I gave a talk during the “Nordic Folkway Presentations” portion of the Midwinter Folk Fest at the American Swedish Institute last weekend. It was so fun to see dozens of people arriving to the building with fiddle cases strapped to their backs. The morning started with an intimate acoustic concert by Ponyfolk in the sun-filled salon at the front of the ASI. After a rough week, personally and for the future of democracy, I was blown away by the sheer joy in the room, both on the part of the musicians and the toe-tapping people in the audience. (Here’s an exuberant moment featuring my friend Cliff Nesseth on his fiddle.)
Wow. Who would want to go in a room and hear my lecture, “From Immigrant Trunks to the Internet: Scandinavian Weaving in the U.S,” in comparison? As it turns out, many people did, and the conference room was filled. I appreciated the opportunity to give a newly-developed lecture. How did the knowledge of Scandinavian weaving spread and build community from the time of the Immigrants until now? What are all the ways that Scandinavian weaving techniques and tradition and passion have been transmitted over the ocean?
To start, certainly many Scandinavian immigrants brought utilitarian and decorative textiles on their voyages to the new world. Some people brought true historical treasures. One of these was a Renaissance-era billedvev, or tapestry, depicting the Three Wise Men.
This is what we know about the tapestry now, as detailed in the Valdres Bygdebok (1964) Vol. 5. I love the part about the antiques experts early in the 20th century saying that it likely came from Rome via Norwegian pirates.
Valdres native Jøger O. Quale from Vestre Slidre, now in St. Paul, Minn., has given a lot of time and thought to finding out what happened to the valuable Leine tapestry. He has relayed by letter dated July 26, 1964 this information, among other things:
Ingeborg Stende who owned the tapestry had lived in Ulen, Minnesota. Quale traveled there with Knut Ødegaard and learned about an elderly lady with the last name Stende. So he writes:
“She was a very fine elderly lady. I asked if she was a daughter of Ingeborg Stende, but she was not. She was the widow of John Stende, Ingeborg’s son. She lived together with an older daughter. Well, she knew of the tapestry. Ingeborg’s son Thomas had taken care of it, she said. He had died many years ago.
He had sent a photo and the tapestry itself around to various experts and academics. Almost all of them believed it was made in Rome and came to Norway via Norwegian pirates. Only one had written that was not as old as from 1025. Thomas had finally sold the tapestry in the 1930s to a man in New York for $700.
That was all she and the daughter knew of the tapestry, of which they had an unclear picture.
We don’t know where it is now! it is one of the many mystery tapestries I have been pursuing.
Penny Seaburg was in the audience, and when she saw the image of the old tapestry, she looked at the figures and remembered a beloved painting on wood in her family, purchased at an auction or antique store by a relative. She ran a quick Google image search and immediately turned up a historical Norwegian tapestry with exactly the same figures and designs. “You did that right during the lecture?” I asked Penny afterwards. Yes! It had just never occurred to her to do that. Family members thought it was Eastern European, maybe Estonian.
Look how closely the painted figures resemble the configuration in this version of the “Adoration of the Magi” tapestry (if you reversed the image) in the collection of the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo.
I discussed many other ways information about Scandinavian weaving reached America, including books, magazines, travel, education abroad, lectures, webinars, organizations, and social media. I’ve been thinking about the transmission of Scandinavian weaving skills as we put together the current retrospective exhibit of our Scandinavian Weavers Study Group of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. If you haven’t seen the exhibit up at Norway House through April 6, “Vibrant Tradition: Scandinavian Weaving in the Midwest,” you should make a trip soon! (Can’t make it to Minneapolis? Information about all 49 pieces in the exhibit is here.)
And you should definitely go to the Midwinter Folk Fest next year!